The Archenemy of Love
Gene Yuan

When I open my eyes from a short nap, a pair of heterochromatic eyes are staring back at me. It looked like the same pair of eyes that I’m used to seeing every day but different. Even without that scar hiding beneath his jet black hair, I could easily tell now that he’s not the same person I know.

I sat properly from leaning on the table and he did the same without avoiding eye contact. “Why are you here again?” I asked Achilles Shawn, Sean’s twin brother.

They are identical twins but despite having the same build, the same face, the same eyes, and the same voice, they have different personalities. Shawn’s view of the world is rather pessimistic, unlike Sean. The smile he gives doesn’t reach his beautiful eyes. And it looked like life has left those orbs of his.

I only talked to him a couple of times but I learned a lot about him and how he views the world we live in.

He laughed but his eyes doesn’t look happy at all. “So you can tell us apart now, huh,” Shawn uttered softly. It’s also one of their differences, he speaks in a soft, sad tone while Sean was a bit loud and lively.

Shawn shifted his gaze outside the window where the sun was slowly disappearing from our sight. The sky is painted with a rosy hue, making anyone who sees it admire its majestic view. But not the person I am with at the moment. He has the same melancholic demeanor he had when I first met him at the rooftop.

“How did you know I’m here?” I asked without taking my gaze off of him, wondering to myself why this guy is so different from that person in many ways. And they don’t seem to get along well.

I only learned that Sean has a twin when I saw him at the clubroom after I left first from the rooftop where we had our deep talk about his views on life. The first thing that crossed my mind was that I met his doppelganger since none of them mentioned that he has a brother and that they were twins. I still remember how Sean rushed to the rooftop with darkened expression, while our friends stopped me from going with him. That was the only time they told me that Sean has a twin, but aside from telling me that they don’t get along, I learned nothing more. However, Natsu vaguely told me that Shawn did something to betray his twins back in middle school.

And when I asked Sean about his twin, he only told me the things that I already heard from his childhood friends like they attend different schools and that they don’t get along. He never told me the reason for it and I didn’t insist to know more to avoid overstepping my boundaries.

“Hey, Shawn…” I called out his name. He looked at me and patiently wait for my next set of words. “What brought you here?”

His lips carved a melancholic smile. “Fate.” Shawn vaguely answers before taking my hand resting atop the table, letting me feel his cold hands. Another distinction the twins have was Sean’s hands were as warm as his personality.

I want to take my hand from his grasp but I feel that I would hurt him if I did so I let him do as he pleased. One thing I learned from myself is, Even though I could only get attracted to men, Shawn doesn’t have the same effect as Sean has on me. They might have the same features, but my heart won’t react differently to him like how Sean affected me a couple of times now. It made me remember his confession a few days ago that I haven’t given him an answer yet.

“Do you believe that everyone has their fated pairs?” Shawn’s question stopped my mind from wandering somewhere else. His hand gently caressed my manly hand, particularly my ring finger, his eyes fixed on it.

“What nonsense are you even talking about? If everyone has their fated pairs, I don’t need mine.” My words came out on their own which made him let out an amused laugh. It’s the first time that I get a genuine expression from him. It is also the first time that I see their similarity.

“You sure are interesting. I get now why Sean likes you.” My face flushed to his unexpected comment about his twin. I guess he figured out how to shut me up, by mentioning his twin’s feelings for me.

Shawn stopped caressing my fingers and clasped them with mine, with our hands facing each other. “Did you know that a red string is tied in our ring finger the moment we were born?” He asked but I keep my lips tied trying so hard not to laugh. If Sean loves defending Cupid, his twin seems fascinated in lore about fate.

“It wasn’t tied to your destined partner on the onset, but it will eventually connect once you meet the person you’re fated to be with.” Shawn continues as he kept fiddling with my ring finger again.

“So you’re saying that fate brought you here because your string is connected with me?” I asked trying to sound serious, but amusement is reflected in my eyes. “I’ve been trying my best lately not to get caught by Cupid’s trap again, Shawn. Don’t make me run away from fate this time.” I jokingly added after pulling away from his grasp.

He looked at me with a serious expression. “Will you believe me if I tell you that I could see the red string of fate? And what you said just now was true, that our strings are connected?”

“No. I’m sorry.” I said chuckling at his claims. He just smiled ambiguously and didn’t utter a word again. So it was my turn to speak my mind.

“Even if you’re telling the truth, I doubt I’ll follow this fate you were pushing on me.” My eyes were fixed on my hands. “Just because you are my fated person doesn’t mean that I will fall in love with you. That’s not how Cupid toy with a person’s life.”

Shawn chuckled as he rested his head on his arms that are placed on top of the table. He looked at me with a fond expression as he asked me another question. “Do you know what the archenemy of love is?”

“What?”

“Fate.” He was smiling after uttering that word but his eyes looked sad as if he already surrendered to his fate.

“How come?”

He sighed and shifted his gaze outside the window, looking at the dark starry sky. “When you're in love, you keep defying fate," Shawn said, that his last line almost came out almost like a whisper. "And when you surrender to your fate, you were neglecting love."

“Isn’t that sad?”

Shawn affixed his gaze to me. “What is?”

“Neglecting love because of fate.”

His smile looked even sadder. “But isn’t it hard and pointless?”

My brows furrowed. “What is?”

“Defying fate for a love that will only end up bad.”

I chuckled. Like I thought, he only add another mythical being for me to hate. His words keep playing in my head during the time that silence has taken over between us. We just stared outside the window, listening to the noise made by the other students who had their club activities, making me remember that I was waiting for Sean to finish his meeting with the other members of the student council that’s why I went here in our usual hangout place.

Shawn stood up from his seat when I checked the time as if he too knew that it was time for him to go. But I stopped him by saying my two cents that I only came up with his last claim.

“It wasn’t pointless.” I met his gaze with a confident expression. “You said that it was hard and pointless if you keep defying fate for a love that will end badly. But it wasn’t.” Shawn looked at me with a frown.

“You see, when you embrace love despite knowing that it might end badly, you keep defying fate not because you’re picking a fight with that old man living at the moon, but for the reason that it is what makes you happy. You were trying to fight for your freedom to write your destiny. Because surrendering to what you called, fate is only making you less human. What the heck are you? A character in a book that solely exists for the satisfaction of the author’s imagination? You should be the author of your life.” I said that made him have a solemn look on his face before he uttered his rebuttal.

“But what if I keep defying fate for that fleeting happiness and still ends up hurt badly?” He asked. Lost.

I smiled and ruffled his hair. “Who do you think is your worst opponent?”

“What?” Confusion is written all over his face.

“You said that the archenemy of love is fate. Now you have two opponents in front of you. Who do you think is your worst nightmare? The God of love who keeps giving you cursed love, or that old man at the moon who claimed to have written your destiny?”

I took my bag after sending a text message to Sean that I will be meeting him at the clubroom before giving Shawn one last look.

“Tell me, Shawn…do you think that Aphrodite’s child will let you out his lair to follow your kismet? Between the two, he will always be your strongest opponent.” I said and turned my back on him as I deliver my final argument. “You can keep fighting fate, but you can never run away from love after he shot you with his golden-tipped arrow.”

What I learned from picking a fight with Cupid, he is not just a cruel, sadistic God. He is also competitive when it comes to meddling with a mortal’s life. And no matter what I do, I can’t surrender to fate without defying it numerous times for the sake of my love.

I was at the door when Achilles Shawn asked me one last question.

"Do you think you could keep love without defying fate?"

I sighed and looked at him. “It's like you're asking me if that diapered-arsehole and that old man would even get along in this lifetime.” I smiled at him and continued my speech. “You see, they are both trying to make you be with the person they wanted you to be.”

He uttered an empty laugh. “Of course…”

“But wouldn’t it be nice if the person you chose will get the blessing of those two?” That was my last question for him before I left to meet his twin in our clubroom.

--

“Why?” I asked about his proposal. Just like years ago, this person who once claimed that I am his fated person, couldn’t make my heart beat wildly as Sean could.

“Do you even love me?” I added with a serious face, to let him know that I don’t have the same patience I had with him back in high school.

“Yes, I do. It was love at first sight. I just hold back because I don’t want Sean to hate me again.” Shawn sounds like he was trying to convince us both.

If I really have forgotten my past, I might believe his lies. But I knew him better than he knew himself. Since our numerous encounters, we’ve become good friends. Another comrade chose to pick a fight with fate instead of love. He believed that he was the cursed twin for seeing things that normal people don’t. But for me, he was rather special.

Achilles Shawn is in love, but not with me. He has been harboring feelings for Fyzz for such a long time, but after experiencing the power of the red string, he became fixated on it. Or rather say, he surrendered himself to his fate.

He claimed that I am his fated pair, but no matter how much he tried to forget his feelings for his childhood friend and surrender to his fate, He couldn’t escape from Cupid’s grasp. Shawn stayed secretly in love with Fyzz. I know because we met a few days before I get into an accident. That’s why I don’t know why…

“Why are you doing this?”

Shawn looked at me with a sad expression. “Because I don’t want you and Sean to end up like our deceased parents who tried to keep their love by defying fate.”